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Cultures & Communities

Furniture, cooking wares, clothing, works of art, and many other kinds of artifacts are part of what knit people into communities and cultures. The Museum’s collections feature artifacts from European Americans, Latinos, Arab Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, African Americans, Gypsies, Jews, and Christians, both Catholics and Protestants. The objects range from ceramic face jugs made by enslaved African Americans in South Carolina to graduation robes and wedding gowns. The holdings also include artifacts associated with education, such as teaching equipment, textbooks, and two complete schoolrooms. Uniforms, insignia, and other objects represent a wide variety of civic and voluntary organizations, including youth and fraternal groups, scouting, police forces, and firefighters.

Parker Brothers developed The Pit card game in 1904, with this Bull and Bear edition dating between 1912 and 1915. Pit is a fast paced card game simulating the open outcry bidding system of the commodity exchange used at the Chicago Board of Trade which was known as the “Pit.” The original game consisted of seven commodities—wheat (100 points), barley (85 points), corn (75 points), rye (70 points), oats (60 points), hay (50 points) and flax (40 points)—which players would exchange until one player held nine cards of the same commodity and announced they have “a corner” on the market. The player gets the points for that commodity; doubling their points they hold the Bull, while the player holding the Bear loses 20 points. The game is played until a player reaches a set amount of points. Like many early 19th century games such as “Monopoly” or “Life,” Pit introduces children to modern American society in a fun and exciting way, bringing a small lesson into a youngster’s playtime.

The Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) was one of the first fraternal associations to provide mutual insurance policies for its members. Founded in 1868, the AOUW was organized in a similar fashion to the Odd Fellows and Freemasons, providing mutual assistance, support, and organization for working men in a community. During this time, insurance was mainly available to commercial interests, but the AOUW and other labor-associated groups provided a financial safety net for its individual members in the occurrence of illness or death.

Albert H. Fowler bequeathed his Ancient Order of United Workmen $2,000 death benefit to his son, Clarence Fowler, upon his death September 30, 1888. Fowler served as the recorder for the lodge in Carroll County, New Hampshire which was governed by the Grand Lodge in Massachusetts. The Death Certificate is number 688 and bears a blue seal from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and a red seal from the Carroll Lodge No. 7.

Henry Leavitt Ellsworth brought this notebook of sample fabrics from an East Coast manufacturer to Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, during his time as part of the Stokes Commission from 1832 until 1834. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced southeastern tribes to the Indian Territory in the West, and Fort Gibson became the home of the commission, whose goal was to pacify the indigenous tribes and create treaties between new tribes during their forced migration.

Ellsworth explained the books contents on the first page, “The annexed samples were cut from large samples and promised at the manufacturers in the East. These prices are fixed by the manufacturers themselves. A sutler at this post Wm. West has kindly given the prices as sold at this garrison. In the interior they are much higher.” The book was believed to have been assembled to support a bill in front of Congress regulating trade with the Indians. As outlined in the book, cloth sold to the Indians was sold at anywhere between a 48% and 180% markup—one of many unfair trade practices between the settlers and Native Americans. The Ellsworth report used this as an example of the need for regulation to prevent traders from taking advantage of the Native Americans with the prospect of a booming population due to forced migration. The book itself contains fifty samples of eleven different fabric types.

Days after the Twin Tower attacks on September 11, 2001, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh gas station owner, was shot to death in Mesa, Arizona in one of the first acts of retaliation targeting Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, and South Asian Americans. This turban, which he once wore, was donated to the National Museum of American History by his family.

Michael Simon, a Latvian immigrant and devout member of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Old Believers wore this Orthodox Cross as he labored in Pennsylvania coal mines during the 1890s. The Russian Orthodox Cross has three bars, the top represents the plate with INRI (Latin initials for Jesus, King of the Jews) and the bottom bar is a slanted footstool.

This elegant little three-draw spyglass or pocket telescope is made of brass, with a central hollow handle of whale ivory. The handle is divided by ruled lines, which have the engraved inscription "MADE FOR/DEAREST/REBECCA/FROM SAMUEL/SEPT. 1867/LOOK YE OUT TO SEA/FOR ME. FROM ATOP/THE WALK YE SEE/TOPSAILS COME AHOME/TO THEE."

The poetic sentiment is offset from the rest of the inscription by horizontal lines of rope and vines. Some houses in the town of Nantucket, MA and other New England seaports had little porches with railings built above their roofs. Wives and sweethearts would climb the stairs to these high perches, known as "widow's walks", to look out to sea for their husbands and sweethearts coming home from long sea voyages. The topsails, or sails at the very top of the masts, would be the first things the women could see from these high vantage points. This spyglass has a mounting pin that could be set in a railing to steady it.

This medium-sized sperm whale tooth is polished and carved on two sides. On the obverse, an elaborately-dressed man and woman walk away from the viewer, beneath an arch of laurel leaves on a vine. The man wears a royal or military uniform, complete with sash and decorated hem. The woman is dressed in an elaborate gown, wears a string of pearls around her neck and has a crown atop her head. Her head, neck and arms are pinpricked, but the dots have not been connected to form an outline. The perimeters of both figures are heavily pinpricked, but not infilled.

The reverse of the tooth is decorated with the figure of a large long-haired woman, with an unhappy expression on her face. Unusually, her hair is not tied up or bound into a hairdo but hangs straight down her front and back. She too has an elaborate gown with ermine insets in the skirt, and she wears an ermine shawl or cape around her shoulders. Her arms, head and overall perimeter are heavily pinpricked but not completely infilled, like the couple on the front of the tooth.

Together, these figures appear to be operatic or theatrical, from the richness of their costumes and their expressive postures. The presence of the pinpricked figural outlines and details demonstrates that a picture was cut from a contemporary newspaper or magazine and pasted on the polished surface before the carving was executed. Most of the carver's hard work was finished; it is unclear why the tooth was never completed.

This large sperm whale tooth has a satyr-like male figure with a horned mask posed in two scenes on obverse and reverse in a sexual embrace with a full-bodied maenad, or mythological female figure associated with the Roman god Bacchus. The subjects of this tooth, along with their shading and poses, argue for a modern carver, who worked freehand. In the 19th century Victorian period, such a tooth would have offended contemporary sensibilities; as a consequence, authentic erotic scrimshaw of the period is exceedingly rare.

The obverse of this sperm whale tooth is carved with a freehand drawing of a three masted ship sailing from right to left. All sails are set and filled with wind, as the ship moves over the sea. The carving is deep, intricate and highly detailed, showing confidence and experience on the part of the artist. The reverse depicts a freehand drawing of the bust of a young woman in a fancy dress. She has large hoop earrings and an elaborate hat decorated with flowers. The portrait is surrounded by an oval frame. Normally, scrimshaw carving was infilled with lamp black, which made the etched lines stand out. On this tooth, however, the artist chose to infill with a light red or orange color, which has faded with time. This results in very faint lines that do not showcase the artist's obvious talent.